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Actions of the President before nominations - instructions on voting


Guest J-Bow 23

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Can the President of a Board (9members) give the members direction on how to vote for a topic? Example: Things have always been done this way....

My concern is that the President must be fair and impartial to the members and then open the floor for nominations, not influencing the body with his opinion on the subject. My reason for asking is that a vote was taken and would change something that had been done a certain way for many years. The comments, I believe, affected the outcome.

Is there any way to object to something like this to keep it from happening again?

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Can the President of a Board (9members) give the members direction on how to vote for a topic? Example: Things have always been done this way....

My concern is that the President must be fair and impartial to the members and then open the floor for nominations, not influencing the body with his opinion on the subject. My reason for asking is that a vote was taken and would change something that had been done a certain way for many years. The comments, I believe, affected the outcome.

Is there any way to object to something like this to keep it from happening again?

In a small board such as yours (per RONR, about a dozen members or fewer in attendance at a meeting) the rules are relaxed a bit that eliminate the impartiality imposed on the Chair at larger meetings. This allows the Chair (most likely the President, I suppose) to participate as any member, making motions and speaking in debate and voting. Whether your President's actions and behavior was appropriate is a guess. But the point of a deliberative assembly (of which a Board is one type) is for members to debate the question, offering opinions in a clear attempt to try to persuade voters to see their point of view, in hopes the assembly will vote they way they want them to.

If the members of your board felt undue pressure from the President simply by his saying "well, we always do it this way", and failed to vote based on their opinion or conscience or on information they possessed, that's their choice. If the President tells everyone to vote yes or else, that's a bit of different colored horse.

Something that has been done a certain way for many years sound like either the majority approves of the "old ways", or is so ambivalent that they don't bother to try something new. But if it's because of inappropriate behavior on the President's part (or other officers), a look at FAQ #20 might be the next step.

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I know there is nothing wrong with customs (i.e. "We have always done things this way") however this is not the way it has to go now. Members are free to vote the way they wish and is they wish not to change customs/traditions that is perfectly fine. If you really felt that the President was trying to unduly influence the members then you could have made a Point of Order. But from what you have said it sounds like the President was simply providing some information about how the organization has operated in the past.

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